According to Philanthropy News Digest, the retention rate of repeat donors was down by 7.2 percent in Q1, 2021. Many organizations including health, human services, religious, public, and societal benefit ones experienced a decline in donations during that time. And if we go by an earlier report, the average donor retention rate in 2020 dropped…
![What are LYBUNT and SYBUNT Reports? [All You Must Know]](https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/New-Design-2022-JanFebMarApr-blog-images-1.png)
According to Philanthropy News Digest, the retention rate of repeat donors was down by 7.2 percent in Q1, 2021. Many organizations including health, human services, religious, public, and societal benefit ones experienced a decline in donations during that time. And if we go by an earlier report, the average donor retention rate in 2020 dropped to 43.6%. These numbers are uncomfortable and worrying for nonprofits because they mean organizations have lost an enormous number of their donors in the last couple of years.
Everyone knows it’s easier to hold on to donors than find new ones, so this is an area nonprofits must address. How can you hold onto donors or win them back if you don’t know who they are?
This article gives an overview of LYBUNT and SYBUNT reports and why nonprofits must use them to learn about lost donors. We will also provide tips on how to hold onto your donors and how to win back those you have lost.
LYBUNT stands for last year but unfortunately, not this year. Reports like these provide a list of donors who gave during the full previous year to an organization but have not given during the same time this year.
SYBUNT stands for some year, but unfortunately not this year. Similarly, SYBUNT means a donor has given some time in the past but has not this fiscal year. You may find recurring donors who gave smaller amounts throughout the previous years but haven’t given in this year by running this report.
These reports list donors who have given once or more times in the past but have stopped giving to your organization. With online donor management systems, nonprofits can track their own donor retention rate with LYBUNT and SYBUNT reports.
Nonprofits using Donorbox can add filters to the donor database to find donor records that gave last year or in previous years but not in the current one. This data can be then used to create LYBUNT and SYBUNT reports. Nonprofits should collect this data at the end of every fiscal year to help find lapsed donors and improve next year’s fundraising efforts.
LYBUNT and SYBUNT reports have several benefits for nonprofits.
LYBUNT and SYBUNT reports give you a list of the donors you’ve lost and their contact information. Once you’ve created this list, you can use it to connect with the lapsed donors to learn more about why they left. You can also develop a campaign targeted at winning back these donors. These reports can help bring a data-driven approach to your fundraising strategies.
One of the primary goals of a campaign or event is to engage your supporters. LYBUNT and SYBUNT lists can help give you a better idea of which campaigns and events help hold on to donors and which may be driving them away. If your event brings in the same amount of donors, but most of them are new each year, your event may need work.
You should reach out to the lapsed donors who didn’t attend the events this year and seek their suggestions as to what might have gone wrong. Such efforts are always appreciated by people and will help make your future events/campaigns successful.
Have you wondered where your organization is losing money? Your events and campaigns bring in the same or more each year, but your annual budget has decreased. Recurring donors are vital to a nonprofit’s long-term success. Organizations that don’t keep track of their recurring donors may be surprised at how often they lose regular gifts.
With Donorbox, you can track important donor moments such as the cancellation of recurring donation plans, any changes to them, and more. Such a list of alerts with donor information will help you reach out to these donors, take their feedback, and personalize your appeals in order to bring them back to your nonprofit.
To create any report, first, you need to gather the relevant information. In this case, you need a list of donor records by applying specific filters to your donor database. Then the list can be used to create your LYBUNT and SYBUNT reports.
For LYBUNT, your filter should be on the time period spanning the entire last fiscal year and then, the same repeated for the current fiscal year. You should have 2 lists of donor records that can then be compared to determine the actual results. For example, you may want to find out donors who gave in 2020. And then, those who gave in 2021. The comparison between these two lists will help you estimate the number of lapsed donors from 2020.
For SYBUNT, your filter should be on the time period spanning any fiscal year prior to the last year and then, the same repeated for the current fiscal year. For example, you may want to find donors who gave in the year 2019. And then, those who gave in 2021. The comparison between the two will give you an estimate of lapsed donors from 2019.
With Donorbox, finding out this data is very simple. We help you create reports through our “Reports” module.
Here you’ll directly create LYBUNT reports without having to manually apply filters or segment donor data. You need to just select “LYBUNT” in the Reports module, give the report a name and description (as shown below), and that’s it!
You’ll also be able to create other reports based on “donor overview” and “new donors” and we’ll soon bring more options.
Creating SYBUNT reports isn’t difficult either. All you need to do is click “Supporters” under “Dashboard”. You will now see a list of all your supporters across campaigns, membership programs, locations, time-frames, etc. Your next step is to add a filter on “Certain Time-frame”, highlighted below.
You can select the year (from the start date to the end date), “Apply” it, and click “Search”.
You can then “Export” the searched data and run the filter again to find similar data for another year. These pieces of data/lists of donor records will help you create your SYBUNT reports.
On Donorbox, you’ll not only find the list of donor records but also their personal and contact information, any communication notes your staff added earlier, and more. This will enable you to easily create targeted appeals and reach out to them for getting them back to your nonprofit.
There are several reasons donors may stop giving to your organization.
And many more!
These are only a few reasons, but you cannot know why a donor left unless you reach out to learn more. Your organization can collect donor feedback via email, social media surveys, or casual conversations by phone or in person. Be sure to ask specific questions and thank donors for participating in donor surveys.
It is vital to keep an open mind and listen to donors’ suggestions, but do not always let their suggestions get in the way of your nonprofit’s mission.
Your LYBNT and SYBNT reports will give you all your lapsed donors’ names, addresses, and other contact information. Thanks to donor feedback surveys and conversations, you should also understand why many of these donors stopped giving to your organization. You can now mail, email, or call these donors and try to win them back.
Our article on Regaining Lapsed Donors gives you a step-by-step guide to retaining these donors. When reaching out to donors, there are a few statements you will want to include.
After you have reminded them about why they gave in the past and how important they were to your organization, it’s time to ask them to support a new campaign. You will have the best response to these asks by segmenting your donors and sending them targeted appeals or making calls based on personalized scripts as per donor type.
You can segment donors by donation amounts, giving frequency, location, time period, campaign interests, and more on Donorbox. The point is to personalize and improve your appeals as much as possible to entice these donors back to your organization.
You may have luck winning back some of your lapsed donors, but you are better off keeping the donors you have. By looking at why donors leave and how to win them back, you may have a good idea of what changes you should make. While looking for ways to engage your donors, you must look at how to turn first-time donors into recurring donors.
Recurring donors may give every week, month, quarter, or year. Nonprofits that focus on turning one-time donors into recurring donors can depend on their gifts and plan for the future.
Organizations can take several steps to entice more donors to give regularly.
All nonprofits should run LYBUNT and SYBUNT reports at the end of their fiscal year. These reports can help your organization learn more about campaign and communication successes, where you may need donor feedback, and create targeted fundraising appeals to win them back. They also provide vital contact information to reach donors and regain their interest.
We provide weekly articles to support your fundraising efforts and to give you resources that can help you regain lapsed donors and hold on to the ones you have now. Check out our Nonprofit Blog to learn more.
Donorbox does more than just helping you manage and segment your donors. It is an affordable and simple-to-use online fundraising platform that helps nonprofits with a plethora of fundraising features including Peer-to-Peer, Crowdfunding, Memberships, Events, Text-to-Give, Recurring Donation Forms, Donation Pages, and more. Visit our website to learn about our features, integrations, and pricing.
Now your nonprofit can scale its fundraising efforts with Donorbox Premium – the ultimate solution that helps unleash your donation potential with fundraising coaching, high-performance tools, and priority tech support.
Kristine Ensor is a freelance writer with over a decade of experience working with local and international nonprofits. As a nonprofit professional she has specialized in fundraising, marketing, event planning, volunteer management, and board development.
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Kristine Ensor